The present invention relates to streaming media. More specifically, the present invention relates to methods and apparatus for customizing user experience in a streaming media environment.
Before the era of cable TV, the three major television networks controlled what was on TV. Even counting the availability of programming on UHF channels, the selection of shows programming was very limited. Back then, consumers desiring to view shows outside the mainstream would often lamented that “there was nothing good on TV.” In the era of satellite and cable TV, hundreds of different channels of programming are now available to the consumer. These channels, however, are specifically selected by the providers from thousands of available channels. Accordingly, for a consumer desiring to view shows outside the mainstream, such consumers still feel that “there is nothing good on TV.”
The inventors of the present invention believe that current satellite and cable TV user interface environments often do not provide consumers with a positive user experience. As an example, the consumer may search for a particular show and become excited to find that that show is currently playing on a particular channel. The consumer then quickly tunes to that particular channel, only to see a message that they are unauthorized to view the channel, that they are not subscribed to that channel, or the like. The consumer thus becomes disappointed. Because of this, and the high price of subscription services, it is believed that consumers grow to dislike cable and satellite TV providers. This statement is backed-up with numerous surveys in the industry regarding consumer satisfaction.
With the advent of on-demand video services, consumers can now view television shows, pay-per-view events, and recently released movies. Such on-demand video services typically rely upon a cable TV or satellite TV set-top box and a billing arrangement with the TV provider. The inventors of the present invention believe that a problem with these services, is that the consumer is assumed to already know what specific show they want to watch. Specifically, there is no third party selecting television programming (e.g. sets of shows) for the consumer. Although some services now use recommendation engines to suggest other shows the consumer may wish to view, typically these engines merely suggest to the user more of what the user is already watching.
In light of the above, what is desired are methods and apparatus that enable users to customize their television viewing experience, without the drawbacks discussed above.